Colonial to ramp up fundraising efforts

WHITERMARSH — The Colonial School District announced plans to ramp up fundraising efforts to help the district keep a number of extracurricular and academic programs across the district without having the raise the budget, Community Relations Coordinator Dave Sherman announced at the monthly school board meeting Thursday night.

“I think it’s becoming clearer each day that schools in Pennsylvania are facing some very difficult financial challenges,” Sherman said at the meeting. “State and federal funding are lagging seriously behind mandates.”

The district will approach its fundraising efforts with three different committees, including Advocacy, Fundraising, and Partnership, and each committee will be tasked with a different area of bring more money into the district.

According to Sherman, the Advocacy Committee will focus its efforts on the legislative front, by speaking with local politicians about the needs of public schools or by campaigning against legislation that could be harmful to public eduation, such as the recently-discussed charter school bill.

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“We are looking for ‘Ambassadors for Education,’” Sherman explained.

The Fundraising Committee will be in charge of the fundraising efforts for the district. A recent change in the relationship between the Colonial School District and the Colonial School District Education Foundation was the first step in a more intense fundraising program, Sherman explained.

“Aggressive fundraising is really very new for public schools in this state,” said Sherman. “We really need to communicate to our community that the time is here for them to financially support our school district.”

Finally, the goal of the Partnership Committee will be to work with and involve more local businesses in various happenings across the district. The committee will be responsible for informing businesses about various tax-credit programs the state has enacted for businesses which donate to pre-approved charitable causes.

“We really have to build stronger relationships with our local businesses,” Sherman said. “We would like companies to get involved with all of our schools.”

The committees are made up of a cross-section of people from the district, including employees of the district and residents of the district who are looking to help out. The Advocacy and Fundraising Committees currently have about 12 members and the Partnership Committee has about six, according to Sherman.

“We really need to communicate how valuable and how vital this school district is to the community,” said Sherman. “A quality school district like this has a very positive impact on people’s homes and property value. An investment in the Colonial School District is an investment in our future.”

For more information on any of the committees or to get involved, contact Dave Sherman by phone at 610-834-1670 ext. 2115 or via email at dsherman@colonialsd.org.